Senate Democrats who helped pass ObamaCare are finally seeing what is in it and aren't really so sure the massive tax increases mandated in the legislation will be good for their constituents, especially when it comes to the medical device tax which is set to further increase on January 1.

With some of their most influential constituent groups facing onerous tax increases that are slated to help fund the law’s mandates and regulations, Senators like Al Franken (D-MN), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), John Kerry (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and others -- all of whom voted in favor of the law -- are aiming to delay or outright repeal parts of ObamaCare.

First, Democrats killed the ill-conceived long-term-care-insurance measure, known as the CLASS Act. This provision, which provided government insurance for long-term care, was, amazingly, booked as reducing the deficit. This was ridiculous, and after the bill passed, Democrats realized it was a disaster, and they repealed the provision.

Another reason the bill was supposed to “reduce the deficit” was an unusually onerous tax hike on small businesses. The provision, known as the “1099 provision” would have forced small businesses to file all sorts of new paperwork for all sorts of transactions (sell a digital camera, file a 1099), in the hope of picking up transactions that are taxable. Congress also repealed that provision.

And now the health-care-industry lobbies that supported this subsidy-and-mandate-laden bill are lobbying to kill the cost-controls that offset the costs of its subsidies. All sorts of providers are lobbying to kill the Independent Payment Advisory Board. And the medical-device industry has convinced two Democratic Obamacare-backing Senators to try to kill the medical device tax.

A top Senate staffer explained (after ObamaCare passed), “This is a coverage bill, not a cost reduction bill.” David Bowen, who helped to craft the legislation, said that Senate Democrats had planned to follow in the path of Massachusetts’ RomneyCare plan by providing insurance coverage first, “knowing that that would bring on a cost battle second.”

In fact, RomneyCare’s mandates and subsidies caused health care costs to dramatically increase in the Bay state, leading the current governor and state legislature to exert never-before-seen controls on insurers and health care providers as they also raised taxes.

Not surprisingly, as Senate Democrats have gotten a look at what exactly is in ObamaCare, the parts of the law that were intended to control costs have gradually been stripped from the legislation.

As I've written before, one of the most devasting taxes long-term is the medical device tax. Medical device development requires highly specialized education and an expensive degree in bio-medical engineering. Now that medical device companies are already cutting jobs because of ObamaCare costs, many students will no longer find it worth spending money on an expensive education only to have their investment not pay off. In the future, this will cause a shortage of medical device engineers which will further snowball into an overall decay of medical device innovation, leaving Americans and the world will have fewer life saving devices.

A bipartisan outcry has been raised over the device tax, and for good reason. The tax was enacted to help fund the $1.76 trillion in new spending authorized under Obamacare, and it will actively undermine production of and improvement on medical devices which are crucial to patient outcomes.

The device tax is a tax on gross receipts (sales, essentially) instead of a tax on profits, so the tax will be imposed even if a company sells its products at a loss. This one detail ensures that the 2.3% tax is deceptively large: the medical device industry’s tax burden is expected to double because of the Taxmageddon increase; some companies (such as Zoll, which manufactures defibrillators) will see their profit margins shaved by up to 40%.

A recent study found that investment in medical research and development will fall by $2 billion per year because of the device tax—and that is a cautious estimate. R&D dollars drive innovation and innovation lowers costs, so the tax’s adverse effect on investment will keep expensive medical devices from becoming affordable and widely available in the future.

More immediately, the device tax will gouge health consumers for essential products. Taxes on companies often end up hitting consumers as higher prices, and the device tax is no different. The actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made it plain that Obamacare’s “fees and the [device] tax would generally be passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and device prices and higher insurance premiums.” In other words, patients – many in dire need of care – may find crucial medical products out of their reach as a result of the 2.3% tax.

Whatever costs cannot be passed along to patients will be absorbed by the medical device companies, which will lead businesses to cut jobs as they tread water to stay afloat. One study found that, depending on the elasticity of the tax, the medical device industry will be forced to fire between 14,500 and 47,100 workers—up to 10% of the workforce.

Now, Democrats wanting to repeal the medical device tax is great but it doesn't change the fact that ObamaCare has to be paid for somehow if the legislation is going to stand as the law of the land.

Yes, as people read what’s in it and more of the onerous regulations take effect Obamacare is going to implode...and take down establishment dems with it like Pelosi, Hoyer, Reid. 2014 is going to be very interesting with a rising Tea Party II.

7
posted on 12/13/2012 8:20:15 AM PST
by Hotlanta Mike
("Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish - too much handling will spoil it." Lao Tzu)

Senate Democrats who helped pass ObamaCare are finally seeing what is in it and aren't really so sure the massive tax increases mandated in the legislation will be good for their constituents re-election.

"Pass another repeal bill in the House and see if it sticks. Then pass an infinite extension of the Bush tax cuts, announce it, and GO HOME."

Yep. It should all stay or it should all go. Don't give the Dems an easy way out by letting them pick and choose what parts of Obamacare they don't want to implement. They will have to suffer the consequences for their actions. Next time maybe they'll read the bill.

20
posted on 12/13/2012 8:35:48 AM PST
by Qbert
("The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry" - William F. Buckley, Jr.)

The device tax is a tax on gross receipts (sales, essentially) instead of a tax on profits

This is killing my business - three medical products compamies I work with have cancelled projects for next year, because of this tax. One distributor has a 4% margin. You just can't make this up in volume.

23
posted on 12/13/2012 8:40:59 AM PST
by FatherofFive
(Islam is evil and must be eradicated)

“”Pass another repeal bill in the House and see if it sticks. Then pass an infinite extension of the Bush tax cuts, announce it, and GO HOME.”

Would have zero impact IMO, only because the evils of Obamacare are not yet fully reveled. BUT come Sept. 2014 this Country will be in total disarray, in part because of Obamacare, > Higher premiums, loss of Doctors, fees, tax on Home sales and so on. That is when the Repubs in the House Vote for repeal and put the Ball in Harry's court. Some how the Repub Senators need to force Harry into a vote. Even if they can't, it is great election propaganda in that Harry not letting the Senate vote is as good as every Dem sticking by Obamacare. I can easily see a 2010 election cycle all over again.

DAC21~:” Would have zero impact IMO, only because the evils of Obamacare are not yet fully reveled. BUT come Sept. 2014 this Country will be in total disarray, in part because of Obamacare, > Higher premiums, loss of Doctors, fees, tax on Home sales and so on. That is when the Repubs in the House Vote for repeal and put the Ball in Harry’s court. “

The Dem’s passed a bill written behind closed doors ~ it wasn’t fully written when Congress voted on it.
Congress had less than three days to review the bill as it was written then , and later to be added upon.
This is what happens when you trust the Dem’s to accomplish any legislation in this Congress ; and yet , they all claim to have read it thouroughly .
This is a Congress ( both sides of the aisle),like our President’s philosophy whose main focus is “ Submission” !
Oh yeah , isn’t that the translation of the term :” Islam “?

I am surprised at the large number of posters on this forum who think the Dem’s care about economics. I don’t see any evidence that Dem’s at the federal level care much whether the general economy is healthy. Their constituencies are largely uninterested in economic matters that go beyond—”you have loot-I want it”. The left is characterized by greed more than anything else. They have little interest in “creating jobs” or “reducing the debt”. They simply want your loot. Dem rhetoric is largely devoted to giving their voters moral justification for looting. Read what the Dem’s say. When the Dem voters can’t get enough loot to keep them happy, they will blame the people whom they looted and will, as history has shown, become much more mean.

37
posted on 12/13/2012 9:27:24 AM PST
by iacovatx
(Conservatism is the political center--it is not "right" of center)

Each and every constitution believing American (not the ameriKans), on April 15th, should file the long form. Attached should be 2,700 pages of itemized deductions. Paragraphs of items bought that are not deductions, explaining why they are not, sprinkled in the mess are actual deductions, explaining why they are.

Democrats better get used to being accosted for passing Obamacare. I expect that seniors will be furious when they find their Medicare has become nearly worthless and they are being denied care for things like pacemakers and hip replacements. Medical device makers will soon be fleeing the US making us dependent on places like China and India for pacemakers and joint replacements and of course taking those jobs with them. Already private health care premiums are going up despite Obama’s lies about them going down as a result of Obamacare. However the worst is yet to come in 2014 when there are no health care exchanges and people who lose their employer sponsored health care find they cannot afford private insurance make too much to qualify for Medicaid and have no other alternatives as the much vaunted health care exchanges are no where to be seen. On top of that they will then be taxed (fined) for not having insurance through no fault of their own.

“If Romney were elected, Republicans would be getting full blame for this.”

You Got That Right!

It’s sad that we can’t go Completely Judo on them and just Agree, Smiling, to Every stupid Tax they ask for, so that when it all goes to Hell we can say SEE, it Isn’t our fault or even our plan After All.

Help the weight of their own stupid bring them down.

What we need, are Widely Distributed, easily useable educational aids to demonstrate the fallacy of making the rich hurt.

This is almost funny. I just picked up the local throw-away copy the the Ventura (CA) County Star from my driveway and the lead headline reads: Hospital to Trim Staff." Some 50 nurses and other employees in two area hospitals will be laid off effective Jan. 31.

All are members of SEIU affiliates and a union spokesperson speculated the hospitals want to cut costs by hiring non-union contract workers who don't receive benefits.

4%? How do they plan on staying in business? Seriously. A tax on gross can be exponential in its effects.

Well, 4.7%. He is a distributor of commodity products, things like medical gloves and such. He has a geat distribution network. It is close to 'factory to the floor' but there is tremendous pressure on price. 2.3% off the top will put him out of business. My business solutions save my clients time and money, but they have to have money to save.

But you are right, a 2.3% tax on revenues can easily take 40% of profits. This will kill the medical devices industry.

0bama is the Destroyer of the Economy.

45
posted on 12/13/2012 11:57:07 AM PST
by FatherofFive
(Islam is evil and must be eradicated)

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